Upcycle Plaid Shirts Into Home Decor

Upcycle Plaid Shirts Into Home Décor with these four easy ideas!

While creating my plaid shirt envelope pillow covers by upcycling some plaid button up shirts, I realized there was enough fabric remaining to make some matching pieces! I just couldn’t help myself so I went for it! The result is the last installment of my 2015 Frugal Fall Décor Collection.

There are a total of four projects which include envelope pillow covers, coasters, sofa arm covers and end table placemats.

Envelope Pillow Covers

The first project is envelope pillow covers. We want to be able to use the same throw pillow each season with different covers so envelope pillow covers are my go to design to achieve that.

First, get your measurements.

You can do that a couple of different ways. I used the envelope pillow cover I had previously made, find that project HERE with instructions. Simply lay your pillow cover onto the shirt which you have buttoned up and smoothed out flat. Mark your cuts with a fabric pencil using a ruler to keep the lines straight. Don’t forget to add 1/4 to 1/2 inch seam allowance depending on how much fabric is available on your shirt.

XL shirts work best!

The second way to get your measurements is to measure the pillow. Don’t forget to add extra for the seam allowance. After you get your measurements, lay the pillow on top of the shirt and double check for accuracy before making any cuts.

These are square pillows. If you want an oblong pillow, just turn the pillow so that you can situate the buttons and pocket into the front of your new envelope pillow cover.

IMPORTANT! The back of the shirt will be cut longer than the front of the shirt to allow for the ‘envelope’ overlap.

Sew the button placard to prevent your pillow from gaping open. No one likes a gapped open shirt, right! Just run a seam really close to the edge of the button placard, lifting the button up away from the needle as you go.

Making the envelope back

Measure and cut the back of the shirt about 6 inches longer (less than 6″ is fine as long as you have an overlap which won’t gap open once the pillow is inside).

Press and hem the pocket edges with 1/4″ hem

Align the two back pieces on top of the front piece, (as in above photo, find that tutorialHERE) right sides together, pin and sew.

Trim the extra fabric from edges if necessary. Clip the corners for a better fit. Turn your new envelope pillow cover right side out, insert pillow and you are done.

On to the next project!

End Table Placemat

Fall décor should be warm and cozy. Adding a matching placemat for the end table just seemed like the right thing to do to enhance the coziness of my new plaid pillow covers.

My favorite of the plaid shirts was the orange one which happened to be short sleeve. I used the sleeves to create this matching place mat for the sofa end table.

Cut along the seams at the shoulder and straight up the arm seam to open the fabric out flat as seen above.

Cut away the manufactured seam leaving the raw edge of the curves which were attached at the shoulder.

Lay right sides together, pin and sew along the hemmed edge of the shirt sleeves (see arrows) creating one long placemat. I made a tiny, narrow hem because this isn’t going to be a very big placemat. Iron the seam flat.

Press and hem all of the raw edges creating a hem all the way around. I laid one piece on top of the other and square it up before hemming. Again, this is a very narrow hem. You are done!

Super easy, just aggravating to sew around curves, I know. It turned out to be a cute end table placemat to match the ‘new’ plaid shirt pillow covers!

Sofa Arm Covers (Another easy project!)

We have two cats. They are gracious enough to allow us to pay for a house for them to live in and then allow us to live there too. Sofa arm covers lessen my cat hair removal work load. I was tickled to be able to make a couple while upcycling these plaid button up shirts and making cute cozy fall décor.

This red plaid shirt belonged to my husband while we were dating, almost 20 years ago. I took possession of it and have kept it safely tucked away all these years. We ladies are silly sometimes, aren’t we.

The above picture is the side seam of the shirt which remained after cutting out the pillow covers. It fits perfectly on my sofa arm!

All I did was cut just under the arm pit seam, stitch a hem all the way around and it’s done!

Coasters

Last project and my hubby’s favorite are these coasters.

This end table is a family heirloom to me. Both of my parents live with Jesus and I miss them both. My parents purchased two marble top end tables way back in the, hmmm, well it’s been more than 30 years ago. I’m glad to use them in my living room. I know they need some attention but I love them just as they are. I do dress them up with décor sometimes and sometimes they are piled up with magazines!

These two pieces were left over from the tail of the shirt after making the envelope pillow cover. I just cut that one long piece in half to create two pieces.

Fold it in half, right sides together. Iron. Square up if needed by trimming excess.

Cut a piece of interfacing to fit and pin. Sew the seams all the way around, leaving small opening so you can turn it right side out. Trim excess from edges, trim corners.

Comments

What a fantastic idea!! I love the way you have used every little piece of that shirt!! Genius!! Thank you so much for sharing at my craft party on Thursday! Hope to see your newest posts this week, which starts at 7pm EST.

Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial! I’m so glad that I found it! I am a beginner sewer and have been on the lookout for new projects. We bought a new living room set recently and I hate the pillows that came with it, so I will definitely be giving this a try!

Shanna, I’m the same way, always looking for new sewing projects for a beginner like myself. So glad you like it. Be sure to share your completed project so I can see too! Stop by and link up at the Merry Monday party, we’d love to have you!

You did an amazing job with these shirts and turning them into beautiful and useful coasters and pillows!
Thanks again for joining and sharing with us at Cooking and Crafting with J&J.
We love having you and hope you come back.
Have a lovely rest of the week and Happy Halloween!
Julie xo

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